Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1887-09-16

him began to search for his wound as
well as his struggles would allow.
"Oh, the hole in my backp' he yelled
81 am murdered / am dead. On, An
netter'
/ searched again but could see no wound.
Then the truth dawned on me-the man
was frightened, not aurt.
Get up" l shouted, "get up. Amt
you ashamed Of yourself? You are not
touched"
Thereupon he rose, not a penny the
worse. But, monsieur, l thought was,
he said, alphabetically; 81 did not know
that had conquered" Then giving the
body of the Nasal kick, he calculated,
triumphantly, "Ah, dog Of black savage,
thou art dead; what vic-Ory"
Thoroughly disguised, / left Alphonse to
look after himself which he did by follow
ing me like a shadow, and proceeded to
Join the others by the large entrance. The
first thing saw was Mackenzie, seated on
stone with handkerchief twisted round
his thigh, from which he was bleeding
freely, having, indeed, received spear
thrust that passed right through it, and
still holding in his hand his favorite carv-
ing-knife, now covered with blood and
bent nearly double, from which l gathered
that he had been successful in his rough
and-tumble with the ElmOran.
"Ah, Quartermainn' he sung out in
trembling excited voice, $50 we have con-
quered; but 1t is a sorry sight, sorry sight"
and then, breaking into broad Scotch, and
CHANGING at the bent knife in his hand, ut
greets me sair to hae bent my best carver
on the breast-bane Of a savage" and he
laughed Historically. Poor fellow, what
between his wound and the killing excite
ment, he had undergone, his nerves were
much shaken, and no wonderl 1t is hard
upon man of peace and kindly heart to
be called upon to join in such a gruesome
business. But fate puts us sometimes into
very ironical positions!
At the kraal entrance the scene was
strange one. The slaughter was over, and
the wounded men had been put out of their
pain, for no quarter had been given. The
bush-closed entrance was trampled fiat,
and in place of bushes it was filed with
the bodies Of dead men. Dead men-every-
where dead men-they lay about in knots,
they were flung by ones and twos in every
position upon the open spaces, for all the
world like the people on the grass in ono
of the London parks on particularly hot
Sunday in August The place was per-
feet SHAMELESS, dyed red with blood. In
front of this entrance, on space which
had been cleared of the dead and Of the
shields and spears which were scattered in
all directions as they had fallen or been
thrown from the hands of their owners,
stood and lay the survivors of the awful
struggle, and at their feet were four
wounded men. We had gone into the
fight thirty strong, and of the thirty but
fifteen remained alive, and five of them
Gucluding Mr. MackenZie), were wounded,
two MORALLY. or those who held the en-
trance, Curtis and the Zulu alone remain
ed Good had lost five men, killed, | had
lost two, killed, and Mackenzie no less
than five out of the six with him. AS for
the survivors, they were, with the eXcep-
tion of myself, who had never come to close
quarters, red from head to fOOt-Sir IIenry's
urmOr might have been painted that color
and utterly exhausted, except UmslOpo-
gaas who, as he stood on little mound
above heap of dead. did not seem partic-
hmped up, feeling very sick, Il told thee
that it would be good fight, and it was.
Never have | seen a better or one more
bravely fought. As for this iron shirt, sure
~ it is 'tagati' (bewtched); nothing could
pierce it. Had it not been for the garment
| should have been there " and he nodded
towards the great pile of dead men beneath
him.
81 give it thee; thou art gallant man"
said Sir Henry, briefly.
''Koosp' answered the Zulu, deeply
pleased both at the gift and the cOmpli-
ment. Thou. too, Incubu, didst bear thy
self as man; but | must give thee some
lessons with the AK; thou dost waste thy
strength"
Just then Mackenzie asked about FlOssie,
and we were all greatly relieved when one
of the men said he had seen her flying to-
wards the house with the nurse Then,
bearing such of the wounded as could be
moved at the moment with us, we slowly
made our way towards the MissiOn-house,
spent with toll and bloodshed, but with
the glorious sense of victory against over
whelming odds glowing in our hearts. We
had saved the life of the little maid, and
taught the Nasal of those parts n lesson
that they will not forget for ten years, but
at what n cost
Painfully we made our way up the hill,
which, but a little more than an hour be
fore, we had descended under such differ
ent circumstances. At the gate of the
wall stood Mrs Mackenzie waiting for us.
When her eyes fell upon us, however she
shrieked out, and covered her face with
her hands, crying, Horrible, HOrriblep'
Nor were her fears allayed when she dis
covered her worthy husband being borne
upon an improvised stretcher; but her
doubts as to the nature of his injury were
soon set Mt rest. Then, when in n few
brief words had told her the upShot of
the struggle (of which Flossie, who had
arrived in safety had been able to explain
something), she came up to me and solemn
| ly kissed me on the forehead.
God bless you all, Mr.. Quartermain;
| you have saved my child's life," she said
simply.
Then we went in, and got our clothes Off,
and doctored our wounds; | am glad TO say
| | had none, and Sir Henrys and Goods
were thanks to those invulnerable chain
shirts, of a comparative harmless nature,
and to be dealt with by means of n few
stitches and sticking plaster Mackcnzie's,
| however, was serious, though fortunately
the spear had not severed any large artery.
| After that we had bath. and oh, what a
| luxury it was! and having clad ourselves
in ordinary clothes, proceeded to the din
| ing-room, where breakfast was set as us.
:,
drinking tea and eating toast in an oriin-
airy nineteenth century sort of way, just
as though we had not employed the early
hours In a regular primitive hand -to-hand,
| middle-ages kind of struggle. As Good
| said. the whole thing seemed more as
though one had had a bad nightmare Just
| before being called, than as a deed done
| When we were finishing our breakfast the
| door opened and in came little Flossie,
| very pale and lottery, but quite uuhurt.
| She kissed us all and thanked US. l con.
! graduated her on the presence of mind
| she had shown in shooting the Nasal with
her Derringer pistol, and thereby saving
her own life.
| ''Oh, don't talk Of it, she said, begin
ming to cry Historically; Il shall never for
| get his face rs he went turning round and
round, never-l can see it now"
advised her to go to bed and get some
| sleep, which she did, and awoka in the
| evening quite recovered, so far as her
strength was concerned. 1t struck me as
an odd thing that u girl who could find the
nerve to shoot a huge black rutfian rush
| ing to kill her with spear, should have
been so affected at the thought of it after
ward; but it is, after all, characteristic of
the sex. Poor FlosSiel | fear that her
| nerves will not get over that night in the
| Nasal camp for many a long year. She
| told me- sfterward, that it was the suspense
! that was so awful; having to sit there hour
/ after hour through the livelong night, ut
| terly ignorant as to whether or no any at
| ta,,,-,r N-nS n Iva IN a5e IN reSf>,rp She